Chapter 1499 A Bunch of Noobs!

Longyan and Shen Laoliu, the good brothers, have been lying in the vast grass in Jiangdong for 3 hours.

This is the first joint operation between the reconnaissance company and the mountain infantry company. Each side sent a platoon. The scouts under Shen Laoliu were responsible for providing battlefield reconnaissance intelligence, and Longyan's mountain infantry platoon was responsible for attacking.

After the continuous equipment upgrades in the past few years, the reconnaissance company has completely abandoned heavy support firepower such as heavy mortars and heavy machine guns.

Although the scouts today still have reconnaissance squads, they actually exist more in the form of five-person teams. Each team has an MG42 machine gun, an iron ammunition box with 1,000 rounds of ammunition belts, a sniper rifle selected by a precision shooter, two "assault rifles", a submachine gun, a grenade launcher or a shotgun.

Such a reconnaissance team has both medium-range and short-range firepower strike capabilities, but it also loses the ability to fight for a long time because of the lack of artillery. If they exist in a small group, they can naturally become a surprise force that gives the opponent a headache, but if they fight in a field battle as a whole, they are really not as good as ordinary infantry companies.

Just like the mountain infantry company, they also follow the light infantry route, but considering field operations, the squad-level artillery G42 machine gun also uses a long-barreled heavy machine gun type, and each machine gun is equipped with up to 1,500 rounds of ammunition. In addition, each squad has only 3 of the latest assault rifles, and they are matched with 4 MP38 submachine guns, 2 bolt-fire rifles and 1 shotgun.

There are 16 people in the squad, and the equipment and ammunition they need to carry are distributed to each person, and the weight of a single soldier is as high as 25 kilograms.

But this ensures the ability of the mountain infantry company to fight for a long time, which is also the reason why Tang Dao asked the mountain infantry company to send a platoon to cooperate with the reconnaissance company when assigning combat tasks.

After all, there is a Japanese infantry regiment in Jiangdong, and there are no other Chinese troops on this plain except the scouts sent by Tang Dao. If the Japanese artillery cannot be destroyed quickly and accurately and run away quickly, the scouts will be surrounded.

As early as two days ago, the reconnaissance company sent three reconnaissance teams to cross the Xiangjiang River at night to conduct reconnaissance in the area where the Japanese artillery positions are located. Today, during the day, it was discovered that the Japanese artillery positions were extremely sparse, and hundreds of Japanese infantry could not defend them at all.

The Japanese infantry had four temporary defense positions in this area, basically two infantry squads defended one direction, but because the artillery positions were extremely large and the front width was as high as 1,700 meters, this also led to the so-called defense of the Japanese army being just a show to prove that they were not lazy.

The gap was so big that even a convoy could break in with a swagger, not to mention the infantry wearing camouflage clothes hiding in the bushes.

The Japanese infantry performed their duties mainly by patrolling, but at night, with the Japanese artillery firing on the battlefield, the huge roar resounded throughout the field, and from time to time, the shells from the Chinese artillery counterattack exploded in the field. To put it bluntly, even if Longyan, who was hiding in the bushes, fell asleep and snored, the Japanese patrol passing by 10 meters away from their hiding place could not find him.

"Longyan, don't sleep, get ready for action!" Shen Laoliu growled in the walkie-talkie.

To be honest, there are two and a half people that Shen Laoliu admires most in his life. One is naturally Tang Tuanzuo, and the other is Wang Xiaoqiang, the head of the 772 Regiment of the 683rd Brigade, and the remaining half is his brother-in-law Longyan.

Longyan has an enviable sense of relaxation. At such a great battle, this guy can actually sleep peacefully in the bushes. I'm afraid no one else can count the entire Sihang Regiment!

"What do you mean by don't sleep? I'm just taking a nap to recover my energy so that I can fight the Japanese later. Brother Lao Liu, don't talk nonsense. If my sister hears it, she will nag me again." Long Yan's lazy voice came from the walkie-talkie.

"Don't talk nonsense. We are responsible for bombing the artillery, and you are responsible for dealing with the Japanese infantry. In 40 minutes, go east and gather at the agreed location. Remember it?" Shen Lao Liu rolled his eyes silently and reminded again.

Before inserting the walkie-talkie back to his chest, Shen Lao Liu paused for a moment and said, "You kid, be careful, the kid is still waiting for you, his uncle, to bring him candy at home!"

"Okay, brother Liu, why are you more nagging than my sister!" Long Yan's heart warmed slightly when he felt his brother-in-law's concern, but he was still stubborn.

"Let's go!" With Shen Lao Liu's roar, the reconnaissance platoon rushed towards their respective predetermined targets in groups of 5 and 3 groups in a triangle formation.

In the darkness of night, the guns on the Japanese artillery positions were still spewing deadly flames. Most of the Japanese artillerymen were naked, sweating profusely as they carried heavy shells into the gun barrels, not knowing that the Chinese scouts who were rushing towards them like ghosts were about to reap their lives.

In front of the fully armed Chinese scouts, let alone these Japanese artillerymen who were like lambs, even the Japanese regular army had little ability to resist!

Just like the two Japanese infantry squads that Long Yan personally led to the two squads, nearly a hundred Japanese infantrymen did not realize that there would be Chinese people crossing the Xiangjiang River at night in Hengyang City, which had become an isolated army, and they also came to stroke their tiger whiskers.

Although the sound of artillery was rumbling and artillery fire was occasionally exploded hundreds of meters away, this did not affect the Japanese infantrymen doing their own things on the position.

Some people wrote letters to their families in the trenches under the dim light of lanterns, some sat in groups of three or four and chatted. It was unknown what happy things they talked about, and they laughed loudly. Others simply took a nap with their eyes closed in the makeshift field trench that was only 80 centimeters high.

Captain Nomura Jiro, the squadron leader of the Nomura Squadron of the 33rd Infantry Battalion of the 6th Infantry Regiment, did not care about them. The news from the front line these days was not good. More than 600 imperial officers and soldiers of the regiment died in the battle. Perhaps it would not take too long before the second-line soldiers of the baggage company would replace them to guard the artillery battalion, and these regular infantrymen would arrive at the front line.

Perhaps, these young people who had just joined the army for less than a year would die in that surging river. Why couldn't they be a little happier before entering death?

The Japanese infantry captain, who had been on the battlefield for a full four years and witnessed the replacement of his comrades in the infantry company, and now only five or six old acquaintances were left, was now very emotional and more humane.

But he would soon regret his humane management. This mistake made the young people under his command have no chance to die in the Xiangjiang River, but destined to be buried in this wasteland.

Orientals are destined to pay attention to "resting in peace"!

Longyan probably didn't expect that the Japanese in front of him would be so loose, as if they were not here to fight but to go on a picnic. For a moment, Longyan thought that this was a trap set by the Japanese for him, waiting for him to fall into it.

The officers and soldiers of the mountain infantry company began to crawl forward from 300 meters away, but the Japanese army was still unaware until they were 50 meters away from the temporary field position of the Japanese army, so that all the tactics deployed by Longyan in the early stage were all in vain.

Longyan originally thought that after being discovered by the Japanese army, the two machine guns deployed 400 meters behind would immediately suppress the Japanese army with firepower, even if all the ammunition was used up, and the infantry would rush to the area where they could drop bombs.

As a result, it was completely unnecessary. Even Longyan climbed to 30 meters away from the Japanese position, and he could almost see the dull face of the Japanese sentry holding a gun and looking around blankly in the flash of artillery fire. The Japanese soldiers on the position were still what they should do.

"Da Da Da!" Accompanied by the dense gunfire and terrified shouts from afar, Long Yan was the first to throw the grenade in his hand.

"Boom boom boom!"

In less than ten seconds, more than 50 grenades were thrown on a temporary position with a width of only 230 meters. What kind of bloody storm was set off? Only the Japanese infantrymen who were on the scene knew it best.

Whether it was a new recruit or a veteran, they were helpless in the air waves and smoke. The veterans could live a little longer than the new recruits, because their body postures curled up in the trenches were obviously much more standard.

But even if they survived the grenade rain, they were just dying.

"Counterattack!" In the desperate roar of Nomura Ji's son, the remaining 40 or so Japanese soldiers grabbed their rifles and stood up, and saw dozens of guys covered with grass and black faces rushing over from three directions in the night.

The closest one was no more than 10 meters away from their trench!

After pulling the trigger and firing a shot, the experienced Japanese soldier pulled out the bayonet from his waist and inserted it into the muzzle of the gun, with his legs in a bow stance, and roared hoarsely, waiting for the enemy to rush in front of him.

In this kind of close combat, you will not have the opportunity to pull the bolt and aim and pull the trigger again. The bayonet will become the fastest way to kill the enemy. The reaction of this Japanese veteran is indeed excellent.

But the enemy who rushed over with two big strides, looking at the shining bayonet raised by the Japanese veteran as if facing a great enemy, grinned. Under the dark face, the white teeth were particularly dazzling, just like a tiger seeing a tender lamb.

Hand-to-hand combat? Please, this is 1944, okay? It’s not that this Chinese sergeant is afraid of this kind of bayonet-to-blood combat mode, but the assault rifle in his hand does not allow it.

"Da da da!" The assault rifle with the continuous fire safety turned on fired a short burst, and the Japanese veteran fell outside the trench.

It's not that he has to show off his individual qualities before dying, but the effective range of the assault rifle of up to 400 meters gives the bullet a strong kinetic energy. When three consecutive bullets were fired into the body of the sturdy Japanese veteran, the powerful force directly pushed him back nearly half a meter like a three-hit hammer.

Compared with the assault rifle in the hands of the mountain infantry company sergeant, the "Dragon Breath Gun" in the hands of the platoon leader Long Yanlong in the front direction is awesome. This trench gun used in World War I has been blessed by modern design concepts from a hundred years later. It really sparks and lightning all the way.

Every time the platoon leader Long pulled the trigger, the clear trajectory with flames was extremely obvious in the night sky. At least one Japanese infantryman on the opposite side was blown away one or two meters with screams, and flames were burning on his body.

Killing one or even several people with one shot simply overturned the Japanese infantry's understanding of the power of individual firearms.

Even if it is a light machine gun, even if all 20 bullets are fired at a person, it may not kill a strong man on the spot. Screaming and struggling are common. How can this gun in this man's hand blow up a head with one shot?

Yes, after the brutal Long Yan killed several people in a row, someone finally couldn't hold back his anger and rushed up to challenge Platoon Leader Long.

‘Bang bang bang! ’ The Japanese Army Captain was not so stupid. He directly raised his samurai sword and confronted this brutal guy head-on. He chased Long Yan with a series of shots with a turtle box, hitting the platoon leader Long who had just been in the limelight and rolling on the ground to avoid it.

Fortunately, Long Yan had excellent physical fitness. With his strong waist and abdominal strength, he moved around in the trench and avoided the continuous shooting of 8 rounds of pistol by an angry Japanese veteran.

"Baga!" Nomura Jiro, who had used up all his bullets but failed to kill the enemy, fiercely smashed the Nambu 14 pistol at Longyan who was hiding in the corner of the trench, and then approached the target with his sharp samurai sword.

As long as he got close to him, he would have a 70% chance of slicing the Chinese man's neck with the samurai sword. The killing gun was invincible in shooting, but it was just a fire stick in close combat.

From the Japanese army captain throwing the gun to chasing him, it was written very long, but in fact it was only 3 seconds. Almost in the blink of an eye, Nomura Jiro saw Longyan holding the gun. His body reacted instinctively. As soon as the knife stabbed forward, Longyan pulled the trigger.

The two sides were only 2 meters apart, and the thick bullet of the Longxi gun hit Nomura Jiro's head. With a sound of "bang!", the Japanese army captain's head exploded completely, but what was weird was that not much blood spurted out from the remaining part of the head.

That's because the high temperature of the incendiary agent carried by the Dragon Breath Gun bullet instantly solidified countless tiny blood vessels, which was equivalent to a hemostatic effect.

So that the headless body was not sprayed with blood, but with the still burning flames.

The tragic scene directly caused the morale of the remaining Japanese soldiers to collapse completely, and they turned around and ran into the darkness.

A Japanese position of 100 people collapsed completely in less than 2 minutes. Longyan's mountain infantry platoon only paid the price of one serious injury and two minor injuries.

This was almost impossible in the past. Even if the mountain infantry company could win the final victory, it would require sufficient firepower suppression and pay enough casualties to achieve it.

It can be seen that the current combat effectiveness of the Japanese army is no longer the same as in the early days of the war.

Longyan defeated the Japanese defense position at an unexpected speed. More than 30 soldiers did not stay in the Japanese position for long. Like a group of hungry wolves hunting, they were divided into five groups.

One group stayed behind to take care of the seriously injured soldiers who were hit in the chest by bullets, and set up a defensive position on the spot to prepare rear defense for the reconnaissance company and mountain infantry company that rushed into the Japanese artillery position. If something unexpected happened, the whole army could retreat from this direction.

The other four groups rushed towards their predetermined targets. Their target tonight was these artillery pieces. They wanted to blow up as many as they could before the main force of the Japanese army arrived.

As for the 600 Japanese artillery pieces in the position, they were not seen by these Chinese soldiers who had already rushed into the position like wolves and tigers. If they met them, they would kill them all!

Artillery is one of the most important resources of the artillery unit. It is useless to have artillery pieces without skilled gunners.

The soldiers of the mountain infantry companies in the other three directions attacked without attacking, using assault rifles, mortars and heavy machine guns to attack the Japanese defensive positions, but the infantry did not immediately launch a strong attack. The strong enough firepower forced the Japanese army to fight back and not dare to withdraw troops to the vast artillery positions to support the artillery.

Even though the artillery positions behind them were already rumbling with explosions, the shrill screams of the artillerymen were like chickens encountering weasels.

More than 60 soldiers of the mountain infantry company held back 300 Japanese infantrymen, and the more than 130 Chinese elites who broke into the artillery positions were like tigers entering a flock of sheep.

How can the Japanese artillerymen's bastard boxes be compared with the assault rifles or submachine guns in the hands of the officers and soldiers of the two elite infantry companies of the Four-Line Regiment? In addition, one side was a war machine trained for killing, while the other side was a pure technical force. The live-fire shooting training was conducted once every few months. The gap between the two sides was simply the comparison between a strong man holding a machete and a child holding a toy knife.

For more than 30 minutes, the elite of the Four-Line Regiment encountered almost no decent resistance. The artillery destroyed at least 13 guns and killed countless Japanese artillerymen.

As the saying goes, success or failure depends on Xiao He. The Japanese placed the artillery very sparsely, leaving a huge safety hazard for their artillery positions, but it was also because the artillery was very far apart that the elite of the Four-Line Regiment had to run a long way to destroy a gun.

And the Japanese were not stupid. The Chinese had all come in. They deployed defenses, stopped firing, and dragged the artillery to run in the opposite direction of the gunfire. In such a dark night, it was really difficult for you to catch them.

On the other side, Matsukami Yoshimasa had been waiting to enjoy the fruits of victory, but the fire suppression of the Chinese position on the opposite bank of his artillery position suddenly stopped. Before he could call to inquire, the artillery called to say that the Chinese attacked the artillery position.

The Japanese army colonel's hair stood up at the time. Without the suppression of these 24 mountain artillery, today's forced crossing of the Xiangjiang River would fail. If nearly half of the division's artillery was lost, it would be a complete disaster.

The order given to him by the division headquarters was to contain the Chinese on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River. If they could fight, they would fight. If they couldn't fight, they would be defeated. The most important tactical goal of the 3rd Division in Hengyang was to fight a decisive battle with the main force of the Chinese reinforcements. Their opponent had to be at least a Chinese infantry army.

If half of the artillery was gone, what would the division use to fight against tens of thousands of Chinese? Would it be their heads?

"Order the fleet to continue moving forward and not to retreat without military orders. The officers and soldiers of the 35th Battalion and the regiment headquarters must immediately return to support the artillery positions." Matsukami Yoshimasa calmed himself down and gave the order immediately.

It turns out that Matsukami Yoshimasa is still quite capable. If the landing fleet chooses to retreat, after there is no threat on the river, the Tang Dao, who already knows that the 200 elite soldiers he sent out have successfully launched a sneak attack, will definitely mobilize the mountain artillery company's 12 Bofors mountain cannons and even the 12 American mountain cannons in Hengyang City, all aimed at the Japanese artillery positions, and under the guidance of the scouts, they will cover the last main force of the 6th Infantry Regiment with artillery fire.

At that time, I am afraid that the last infantry of the 6th Infantry Regiment on the shore will also be swallowed up by this wave of ruthless artillery fire.

But the fleet continued to move forward, and the Chinese artillery in the city could only continue to suppress the river. Once thousands of Japanese troops landed, they would form a constraint on the river bank defense, forcing the Chinese to transfer troops here, which would undoubtedly achieve Yokoyama Isamu's tactical goal.

For Yokoyama Isamu, who has invested more than 70,000 people and almost put most of his bets, an infantry regiment is affordable.

"Retreat!" Shen Laoliu, who received the news that hundreds of Japanese soldiers were coming to support, was very cunning. He did not want to fight and directly sent a signal for all personnel to evacuate.

The reconnaissance platoon and the mountain infantry company carrying the wounded and the bodies of the dead comrades would walk 5 kilometers in the dark to the upper reaches of the Xiangjiang River, where there would be four wooden boats waiting to pick them up in the river bend.

The Japanese army would certainly not give up and chased them all the way.

As a result, Shen Laoliu played a trick of sneaking away. Two squads carried the wounded and the bodies away first, and the other 150 people quietly ambushed in the bushes on both sides of the road where the traces of retreat were extremely obvious, and gave a blow to the more than 500 Japanese soldiers chasing them.

In just 20 minutes of ambush, more than 180 Japanese soldiers were killed. Until they evacuated, nearly 300 Japanese soldiers were still waiting for support.

The Japanese army colonel who hurried over with more than 800 infantrymen who got off the boat almost suffocated when he saw the pale faces of his 300 subordinates.

When did the mighty permanent division of the Empire of Japan become so weak?